This invention relates to cloth spreading machines, and more particularly to a unique cloth feed apparatus for a cloth spreading machine.
Cloth spreading machines are well-known in the art in which a spreader frame supports a supply of cloth and reciprocably travels longitudinally of a spreading table for spreading layers of cloth upon a cutting or spreading table. The layers of cloth are subsequently cut into a plurality of patterns for various pieces of apparel or garments.
In cloth spreading machines supporting a cloth supply roll, the supply roll is sometimes supported upon the machine frame for free rotary movement and the web pulled from the supply roll by a positively driven cloth feed roll supported at one end of the machine. The positively driven cloth feed roller pulls the web from the large supply roll and feeds it down for deposit in layers upon the cutting or spreading table. Some examples of this type of cloth feeding arrangement are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,663,006, Benson et al, May 16, 1972, 3,727,907, Martin et al, Apr. 17, 1973, 3,735,223; Fort et al, May 22, 1973.
Another mechanism for feeding cloth from the supply roll to the cutting table includes two or more cloth feed rollers, which are positively driven, and which support the supply roll to feed a web of cloth across one or more guide bars or guide rollers for ultimate deposit upon the spreading table. Examples of this type of cloth support and feeding mechanism are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,276,479, Gilbert, Mar. 17, 1942, 3,400,927, Martin, Sr. et al, Sept. 10, 1968.
Examples of cloth supply rolls suspended in a cloth spreading machine by belt-type members are the Warth U.S. Pat. No. 185,371, Warth U.S. Pat. No. 207,575, and FIG. 4 of the Isaacs U.S. Pat. No. 1,265,452.
The Haberstump et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,118,556 discloses a cradle-type cloth supply roll support in which the supporting, positively driven, cloth supporting and feed rollers are connected by endless belts.
Some prior cloth spreading machines utilize a combination of both a positively driven set of cloth supporting rolls and a positively driven feed roll at one end of the spreading machine, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,273 of Benson et al, issued Aug. 15, 1972.
The Sayles U.S. Pat. No. 2,478,840 discloses a cloth spreading machine adapted to support a cloth supply roll in a pair of opposed standards mounted upon a turntable. The cloth is fed from the supply roll by a cloth feed roller mounted on a pivotal arm and biased into tangential engagement with the surface of the supply roll. The cloth fed from the supply roll is then entrained over a forward positively driven roller for deposit upon the spreading table. Both the tangential cloth feed roller and the forward feed roller are driven in synchronism through a transmission chain of gears and sprockets from the wheel of the machine frame, so that the cloth can be fed at substantially the same linear speed as the movement of the spreader frame over the spreading table.
However, it is one characteristic of all of the spreading machines mentioned above, that after the cloth supply roll is mounted on the spreading machine, the cloth web from the roll must be manually threaded over the respective guide bars or forward feed rollers before the machine can commence movement to spread the layers of cloth.
Furthermore, in most cloth spreading machines, particularly machines in which the feed rolls must not only feed the peripheral web of cloth, but also support the weight of the cloth supply roll, tensionless cloth feeding has been difficult to obtain.